The present invention relates to hose stranglers.
Hose stranglers are used extensively in forestry and municipal fire fighting applications. The fundamental use of a hose strangler is to momentarily stop the flow of water through the hose in order to change a nozzle, repair a hose, add hose length, change or add adapters, etc. without having to stop a pump and engine. Hence, this hose adapter provides a fast and easy way to make the above changes in an emergency situation.
Various existing hose stranglers are presently available. One type of well known strangler is called the flat strangler. This strangler has two flat portions working as a clip. In use, the hose is placed between the flat portions and these are then brought together and secured by an attaching mean.
Another well known strangler device is a V-shape strangler. The V-shape strangler was developed to improve the flat hose strangler, specifically to reduce the problem of hose pinching (snake eye) and strangler slippage.
Although they are industry accepted safe stranglers, the existing stranglers do have a problem when the user wants to remove the strangler from the hose. This is because, while the strangler is secured on the hose, water pressure builds up on one side of the strangler, whereas on the other side, water pressure is near zero. Slippage is then possible and makes the removal of the strangler a hazardous operation. More specifically, it has been noted that slippage occurs mostly when the operator is removing the strangler. At this time, there is no maximum compression on the hose to firmly maintain the strangler in place. Therefor, there is a risk, when opening the strangler, that the build up of pressure will tear the strangler from the user""s hand and fly off.
One solution to this problem has been to propose rubber shoes or pads on the inside of the strangler to increase friction, but this does not completely resolve the issue.
Slippage is also a concern when dealing with hoses made with aramid fibres, since these types of hoses are more slippery, and the risk of injury is greater.
Hence, there is a need to provide a new hose strangler that will circumvent the above identified problems that is to prevent slippage, thereby preventing any risk of injury during operation of the hose strangler.
It is thus an object of the invention to propose a hose strangler which considerably reduces the risk of slippage when the strangler is being removed from the hose.
In accordance with the present invention, this object is achieved with a hose strangler comprising:
a clamping member adapted to hold a hose in position, said clamping member comprising
a first arm having a concave portion for receiving said hose,
a second arm having a convex portion matching said concave portion of said first arm, said concave and convex portions defining a hose strangling area, said first and second arms being pivotally secured at a first end so as to permit said clamping member to rotate between a closed position and an open position,
a blocking means to open and close an opening between said first and second arms, said blocking means being located in said hose strangling area; and
a locking mechanism for securing said clamping member in a closed position.